For the fourth SAT administration in a row, widespread cheating threatens the security of this Saturday’s college admissions exam in Asia. According to Robert Schaeffer, Public Education Director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest), “Recycling test forms that were previously administered in the U.S. is the root cause of this ongoing scandal.”

Schaeffer explained, “Last fall, widespread reports of SAT cheating forced the test-makers to delay reporting many scores. Some are still being withheld, including those from honest students who did not cheat. Earlier this week, a source sent FairTest a website link to what purports to be the test scheduled for use in Asia on Saturday, January 24. It appears to be an exam form administered in the U.S. in June 2014. Multiple other sources report that test coaching companies in China and South Korea are selling access to this document.”

“The test-makers now admit that scores from the October, November and December 2014 SATs were held back for ‘administrative review,’” Schaeffer continued. “Yet, the companies that own and manufacture the SAT – the College Board and Educational Testing Service (ETS) -- have not addressed the underlying problem, their practice of recycling tests in Asia that have previously been seen by thousands of U.S. students”

Schaeffer concluded, “In an age of instant global communication via secret websites, text messages, and cell phone videos, it is irresponsible for the College Board and ETS to act as if test contents can be kept ‘secret’ after their administration. Unless the test-makers stop recycling old exams in Asia, SAT ‘test security’ will continue to be an international joke.”